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The Chicago Jazz Festival has long been celebrated as the first of the lakefront music festivals, and as it marks its 35th year, the event will move to Millennium Park from festival grounds in Grant Park, August 29-September 1. Performances will also happen in the Chicago Cultural Center. (78 E. Washington) The festival is presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. (DCASE) and programmed in partnership with the Jazz Institute of Chicago.

“The Chicago Jazz Festival highlights a genre that is such a part of Chicago’s musical heritage and it’s a great Labor Day Weekend tradition,” said Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner of DCASE. “But over time, traditions can use a jolt of new and fresh ideas. Millennium Park and the Pritzker Pavilion’s state-of-the-art sound system provide an idyllic setting to enjoy this festival and experience the intricacies of jazz music.”

The first evening of the Chicago Jazz Festival, Thursday, August 29, will once again coincide with the final evening of Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz. Then on Friday, three stages will come alive with entertainment in Millennium Park (including the north and south ends of the Chase Promenade) as the festival begins that day at 2 p.m. and continues until 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours will also be extended from previous years, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and an additional stage will feature live performances, resulting in the festival providing the most hours of free jazz music than it has in recent years.

As is the tradition of the festival, the 2013 Artist in Residence is Chicago drummer/percussionist Hamed Drake.
Drake moved to the Chicago area with his parents in the early sixties, living on the same street as Fred Anderson who would mentor the pre-teen drummer. By the early seventies, Drake joined Anderson’s band, playing with him on stage at the inaugural

Chicago Jazz Festival in 1979. The worldwide demand for his talents regularly takes
Drake away from home. His Artist Residency affords Chicagoans the rare opportunity to hear him in several contexts over the course of one weekend, and his appearance at the Chicago Jazz Festival – 34 years after he first played this event – encompasses the festival’s entire history.

The stage that promotes the future of the genre by highlighting local high school and college jazz bands and ensembles, The Chicago Community Trust Young Jazz Lions Stage, will find its new home on the Harris Theater Rooftop on Saturday and Sunday.

Millennium Park and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion will also play host to the first night of the 30th Annual Chicago Blues Festival, Thursday, June 6, before the milestone event moves to Grant Park for three full days of music on five stages, June 7-9.

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